This is the story of three African-American women in the West Area Computers division of NASA, back when segregation is still the way of things: Katherine Goble Johnson (Taraji P. Henson) who worked as a “computer” in Al Harrison’s (Kevin Costner) Space Task Group, Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) who aspires to be an engineer in the time when female engineer is a rarity, Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) who fought her way up the ladder despite being stunted by inherent racism against her race and skin color.

Story wise, Theodore Melfi and Allison Schroeder relied on the tested and true formula of inspiration stories. It wasn’t groundbreaking, and it wasn’t the type that overwhelmed me with emotions. It doesn’t have that one truly low point where all seems lost. But that’s why it was so pleasurable to watch. Under Theodore Melfi’s directing, Hidden Figures conveyed an uplifting attitude that it stood for. It’s a reminder that the world would never be able to knocked us all the way down, not as long as we still have the will to go on. It’s a positive and hopeful take on the fight for equal treatment regardless of one’s gender and race.

Admittedly, Hidden Figures suffered from imbalance story telling because it focused too much on Katherine. Considering her works was integral to astronaut John Glenn’s successful launch and re-entry, her story indeed mattered the most. She was also the one that was most palpably discriminated. Surrounded by white men and white woman, she constantly battled their prejudiced and dismissive attitude because of her race and gender. It’s an apt depiction of colored women’s struggle at that time, and it gave her character proper emotional exploration. Which Taraji delivered wonderfully. She was timid, often aloof, but she hid such fire. And when she finally burst, it was glorious to watch. I’m pretty sure I won’t get bored of that certain moment despite repeat viewing because I love it so much.

But spotlighting Katherine put Mary and Dorothy on the back burner. Mary, especially, was criminally under exposed. Her genius was barely accentuated, so did her struggle to be NASA’s first black female engineer. While it perhaps showed that she never struggled academically, it made her character felt detached and I wasn’t as proud as I’m supposed to be over her feats. Luckily, Janelle Monae was stellar as her. She portrayed Mary as an easygoing but outspoken and steely woman, one that I easily fell for. She stole my attention more than anyone else in this movie, honestly.

However, the true pity is Dorothy’s story’s lack of prominence. Because her struggle was actually the most astonishing. She taught not only herself, but also others on West Area Computers, a whole new subject on computing and programming. Hers was truly a story about self made success, her fight against subtler-but-just-as-deadly discrimination from other women, and how she empowered others. And Octavia Spencer portrayed Dorothy’s restlessness, Dorothy’s strong will to fight and achiever tendencies in a way that made me sympathize with her. I didn’t like her per se, and I don’t think I’d be able to get along with her, but she’s the type I could look up to.

But just like the characters in this movie, it’s actually quite possible that we’re the one who commits and perpetuate discrimination. Perhaps we’re reluctant to fight against rules that do harm on us and choose to stay silence because we don’t want trouble.Or we’re as ignorant as Al Harrison about the unfair treatment that our colleagues faces. Or perhaps, we’re just like Vivian Mitchell, who thought that we have nothing against them but actually subtly discriminates them, making life harder for them and refuse to help them, under the guise of rules and norms.

There was a line in this movie that caught my heart: “Separate and equal are two different things. Just cause it’s the way, doesn’t make it right, understand?” That line not only captured the spirit of this movie, but sent a very strong message that questioned the way we think and behave. Just as the road to hell is paved with good intentions, at times it is our own complacency and ignorance that let injustice continues. It is our own reluctance to speak up or challenge the status quo that let bigotry run rampant as the norm. And Hidden Figures is a warm feel good movie that reminds us to take action and change that. Because it’s high time we stop shouting and complaining for a better world, but also change our inherent discrimination. It’s time we truly apply values of equality in our daily life and change others’ mind through our feats, not empty words we screamed.